Making copies of a comp where only the text changes

I am animating a series of flags that pop up in different places on a map, and they carry and show the name of the place. Now I want the exact same flag and animation everywhere - except the text must change, of course. How can I keep a centralized layer for the animated flag in order to make modifications for all instances at once while changing the text of each instance separately ? The text also receives some animations and effects which I want to be the same everywhere. Only the text and its size (in order to fit in the flag) differ from place to place.

Precompose your flag animation, then make separate compositions for each new text layer. Add the flag precomp to each of these. You can use the new(ish) Edit --> Copy with Property Links function to use the first text animation as a sort of master control for the rest.

Alternatively, you can just make one comp in After Effects and do all of your text changes in Premiere Pro! The newest CC 2017 release have some nice enhancements to the workflow that allows you to change text in an AE project (including with animation and effects) from within Premiere Pro.

- The Great Szalam
(The 'Great' stands for 'Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble')

No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.

Sounds good, but I still would have a little problem with that : I also have post-animation effects which I do not want to depend on the animation (ie I don't want those effects to be distorted). That would imply re-creating the effect in every text layer wouldn't it ?